Dehumidification apparatus



March 29, 1960 w. LYMAN 2,930,208

DEHUMIDIFICATION APPARATUS Filed March 14, 1958 FIG.|.

INVENTOR WALLACE R. LYMAN United States Patent" ice DEHUMIDIFICATIONAPPARATUS Wallace R. Lyman, Springfield, Ma'ss;, assignor to'Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East-Pittsburgh, Pat, a corporationof Pennsylvania Application March 14, 1958, Serial No. 721,485

1 Claim. (Cl. 62-428) This invention relates to air conditioningapparatus, and more particularly to a heat exchanger for therefrigeration circuit of a dehumidifier.

The heat exchangers of conventional dehumidifiers or similar apparatususually present an unattractive appearance, and are mounted interiorlyof a cabinet having a decorative front grille. A grille adds to theoverall manufacturing cost of the apparatus and serves no other usefulpurpose than to improve the appearance of the unit, by

veiling the usually unsightly heat exchanger and other components of therefrigeration circuit.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a condensercomprising a perforated plate'or sheet, such as expanded metal, and atube for conducting refrigerant joined to one side of said plate orsheet in good heat conducting relation thereto. The condenser is placedin a front opening of a cabinet so that the perforated plate serves as agrille for the opening as well as providing extended heat transfersurface for the condenser tubing. It has been found that a sheet, of thetype commonly known as expanded metal, is well suitedfor this purposeand provides a very pleasing appearance. By this arrangement, acondenser of unitary construction serves as a heat exchanger and adecorative front grille, thereby reducing the overall manufacturing costof the apparatus.

The various objects, features and advantages will ap'- pear more fullyfrom the detailed description which follows, taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a dehumidifier embodying a heatexchanger constructed and arrangedin accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the dehumidifier of Fig. 1, having a side wallof the cabinet removed to show its internal components in elevation;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, front'view of the heat exchanger ofFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, vertical sectional view' of the heat exchanger ofthis invention, taken along the line lV-IV of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a rear view of the heat exchanger fragmen shown in Fig. 3.

The cabinet of a dehumidifier embodying the invention is indicatedgenerally by the numeral and houses a motor-compressor 11, an evaporator12, a condenser'13, a fan 14 and the usual tubing and parts comprising aconventional refrigeration circuit. All of the parts of therefrigeration circuit, shown in Fig. 2, are housed within the cabinetand suitably supported, as by brackets and angle irons. The evaporator12 is disposed at the rear of the cabinet 10 and, since it is cooled,serves to condense moisture from humid air drawn into and through thecabinet 10 by the fan 14. Moisture condensed from the air is collectedin a trough 15 which is attached to the cabinet 16 in a position beneaththe evaporator 12. A hose 16 conducts the condensate from the trough 15to a bucket (not shown). The dehumidified air is propelled over the warmhousings of the motor compressor 11 and 1 2 fan 14 and then through thehot' condenser 13, wherebyit is reheated and returned to the room atslightly above intake air temperature. A

Although serpentine or coiled tubing alone has been:

found to operate satisfactorily as a refrigerant-conduct-i'.

ing, heat transfer medium for the evaporator 12,:additional heattransfer surfacesarej ordinarily required for the tubing 17 of thecondenser 13. conventionally, thin fins are stacked along the length ofthe condenser tubing 17 to provide additional heat transfer surfaces,but in accordance with the present invention, expanded metal sheets 18and 19 are brazed on front and rear sides, re spectively, of a fiat bankof zigzagged, or serpentine, condenser tubing 17, in a fiat sandwicharrangement. This construction technique not only lends itself well tooven brazing of the condenser components but also produces anefiiciently functioning heat exchanger.

The condenser 13 spans i.e. covers the front opening of the cabinet 10and is secured in position by means of a generally U-shaped channelwhich extends around the cabinet opening and clamps the margin ofcondenser 13. The channel is defined by an outer frame 21, formedintegrally with the cabinet 10, and an inner frame 22 which ispreferably welded to thecabinet 10 in spaced relation to the outer frame21. (See Fig. 2.) This arrangement facilitates the assembly of theapparatus and also enables the condenser 13 to add structural rigidityto the cabinet 10.

The construction and arrangement of the condenser 13 is designed toreduce the visibility of the interior of cabinet 10 from the front sidethereof. This is accomplished by means of an expanded metal, heattransfer sheet 18 of the type which has many horizontal rows of closelyspaced apertures or openings over its entire area, each of the aperturesbeing defined by portionsof the sheet 18 lying in planes oblique withthe vertical, so as to present a. Venetian blind effect to the viewer.This type of expanded metal sheet 18 is also described as having itsopenings on a bias. Preferably, the sheet 18 has its openings extendingupwardly, from front to rear, at an angle of about 45 degrees with thehorizontal, so that only a small amount of light from an overhead sourceis admitted to the interior of the cabinet 10, thereby restrictingvisibility. Thus, the condenser 13 not only partially obstructs the viewinto the cabinet 10, but also reduces visibility by Y admitting only asmall amount of light Since the de-. humidifier is an appliance thatusually rests on the floor,

and is below eye level, the oblique sections of the expanded metal sheet18 are particularly effective in obscuring the condenser 17 and theinterior of the cabinet from view.

The rear heat transfer sheet 19 is preferably of the flattened expandedmetal variety resembling a honeycomblike mesh, to obtain maximum heatconducting contact efiicient heat exchanger which restricts visibility,but not the passage of air, through the front opening, and also ,Paientd Mar. 29, 1960 evaporator for cooling and dehumidifying air, and airtranslating apparatus for moying air over said evaporator anddischarging air from said cabinet through said open ing, of an expandedmetalsheet carried by said cabinet and closing said opening, said sheetbeing composed of numerous obliquely disposed, interconnected stripsdefining openings extending upwardly from the exterior to the interiorof the cabinet, and a tubular refrigerant condenser for heating airbeing discharged from said cabinet, said condenser being carried on thecabinet interior surface of said sheet and joined in good heat transferrelationship therewith, whereby said sheet provides extended heattransfer surface for said ,'condenser and restricts the visibility ofthe interior of said cabinet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,676,001 Polad Apr. 20, 1954 2,703,702 Meinel Mar. 8, 1955 2,710,509Ayling June 14, 1955

